Tuesday November 6, 2012 4:18 pm

Microsoft working on Xbox Surface, a 7-inch gaming tablet

Among the smaller tablets of the world like the iPad mini, Kindle Fire HD, and Nexus 7, Microsoft's platform is nowhere to be found. Sure, the company just launched Surface a couple of weeks ago, it's first first-party tablet device, and it has the Surface Pro on the way too…but what about the smaller form factor? Well, it turns out that Microsoft is working on it's very own 7-inch tablet, the previously-uncovered Xbox Surface.

According to sources speaking to The Verge, the Xbox Surface tablet will be powered by a custom ARM processor and will be focused on gaming. It may handle other typical tablet use cases as well, but it sounds like Xbox Surface will be Microsoft's foray into the handheld game console market.

The company isn't talking, as it declines to comment on rumor or speculation, but you'd have to think that, just based on the success of well-made 7- to 8-inch tablets, that Microsoft would be ready to jump in as well.